Editor’s Note: Evening Sun writers love to argue. The sides in this debate were chosen arbitrarily and do not necessarily reflect the author’s true viewpoint. This week, Tyler Murphy and Jeff Genung discuss the execution of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Like previous efforts to bring a prior regime to justice, Saddam’s trial will be remembered as much for what it showed about those sitting in judgment as for what it proved about the accused. Saddam ruthlessly murdered, tortured and persecuted the people under his domestic sovereignty. His merciless actions were massive, premeditated atrocities. Those familiar enough to witness the blood-covered hand of Saddam at work may have found chilling similarities in the current government’s execution of the dictator. Saddam was villainous because his crimes set him apart from us morally; to act in parallel with his vile methods makes us accomplices to such immoral acts – and equally monstrous. – TDM

First of all, I’d take issue with your use of “us” in your argument. The United States did not execute Saddam Hussein – a government led by the very people he once terrorized did. Our whole mission in that country was to help establish a government that could make its own decisions. The fact that the execution of the death sentence happened swiftly hopefully shows just how anxious the people of Iraq are to move on in forging a new government and putting the atrocities of the past behind them. Those who did witness Saddam’s brutality first-hand weren’t dismayed by the similarities or ironies of his execution; in fact, they most likely felt that the way he died – a relatively simple breaking of the neck – was entirely too merciful. – JMG